I have made over $1M using only Skool. No complex tech. Just a community, a course and consistent value.
The system is simple enough that you can work on it once a day, even as a complete beginner. Here is exactly how mine is set up.
Step one: pick a profitable skill
Your skill needs to sit in health, wealth or relationships. Nearly every decision people make comes back to wanting better health, better relationships or more money.
I spent years in fitness. If you do not have a skill yet, learn one, ideally in wealth because it usually pays the most. My free Skool community and Alison both have free training. This step is non negotiable. Nothing after it works without a skill people pay for.
Step two: build the free group
My About page runs in this order:
- A main video explaining the group.
- Free group versus paid group comparison.
- Client wins.
- FAQs.
- A join now call to action.
- A client testimonial.
- A framework section showing the curriculum, given away free even though it could sell for a lot.
The community tab has general questions, introductions, YouTube training and “Tanner wisdom” updates, and company announcements.
The classroom holds the Sell and Scale curriculum. A Start Here video explains how it works. Week 1 is free with bonuses, about 14 videos on paid ads. Weeks 2 and 3 prompt an upgrade and lead to a page about the paid program. I am split testing that page against going straight to checkout. So far the sales page wins.
Price the paid group annually
The paid group is $14.97 a year. I chose annual over monthly because monthly plans often lose about 20% of members to churn, which makes cheap monthly plans at $37 or $97 unworkable. In one recent month, six people paid for a year.
The paid group holds Business OS, bonuses, Leads, and Conversion OS with sales and DM modules. I planned the full curriculum in a spreadsheet before launch. The first had about 15 videos, the second about 20 more. Planning ahead tells the team what to film, edit and publish. Off the cuff content performs worse. I even use bullet points for videos like this one.
The real job of the paid group: pay back ad spend
One of my B2B ad accounts brings leads into the free community at $9 to $12 a lead. For B2B that is cheap. I usually see $20 to $25.
At $10 a lead and $1,000 a day, you get about 100 leads a day. If 2% to 3% upgrade, you recover part of your spend. In my first month I spent about $15,000 on the community and made about $6,000 back from upgrades. The net cost of those leads was about $9,000. High ticket upsells after that are essentially profit.
Paid members see a link to my private one on one mastermind, which works with high level businesses to scale toward $1M a month or more. The paid group liquidates ad spend and feeds people into coaching.
Since November, about 160 calls have come from the yearly option, which includes a free call. Roughly 15 to 20 of those people upgraded to a $98,000 program. The $14.97 offer makes me the most money. I find that ironic.
Run a weekly webinar on rotation
Run a weekly webinar inside the free group and list it on the group calendar. If 10 people attend and 1 books a call, that is about 4 extra calls a month.
Build about six webinars on different topics: offer, leads, lead nurture, sales, fulfillment and upsells. Rotate them. After six weeks most attendees are new, so the content stays fresh without remaking it.
Paid members can also join the group Zoom calls, where account managers coach them and can move them up a tier. They see the live calls for one on one clients in the same space.
Stack monetization links
Members see several offers:
- Book a call.
- A free trial of Skool, which pays me.
- A 7 day free trial of Elite 360, my white label GoHighLevel software.
- A $300 referral for bringing in someone who pays.
The same 100 leads can produce paid group sales, affiliate revenue and software trials.
Drive engagement with real rewards
Next month I am running a challenge with a $1,000 prize and a private call with me for the winner. Another idea is $1,000 for the best win posted in the wins channel. People need a reason to participate. Visible activity creates FOMO, and FOMO drives upgrades. You do not need the CEO for this, but you do need a social media manager.
Put a sales page inside the community
The real goal of the free group is to move people into high ticket and get them on a strategy call. So put a VSL or sales page inside the free community that shows who you are and why they should work with you. Few people do this. Most members do not know you yet, so give a lot of value up front.
Organic traffic and vetting calls
Organic sales are the best because there is no ad spend. If a customer costs $2,000 in ads, every customer from organic is $2,000 saved. YouTube is my pick, and if I could go back I would have focused on it more. People who watch to the end are serious fans. I link my Skool community at the bottom of every video.
Then vet your calls. Out of about 100 applicants, only about 40 get a live call. Many lack money, are not ready or need a spouse’s approval. Keep your calls for people likely to buy.
The takeaway
Profitable skill, free Skool group, a curriculum planned in advance, an annual paid group that pays back ad spend, rotating weekly webinars, stacked offers, engagement rewards, a sales page in the community, YouTube and vetted calls. That is the whole system.
Want to know what’s capping your community and back end? Take my free 90 Day Ceiling Plan. Answer 18 questions and get a written plan, built on your own numbers, that names the one thing holding you back and what to fix first.
